


Eighty Three Days

by feelingofthesea



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drinking, F/M, Feelings, Happy Ending, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Moving On, Pining, Romance, Second War with Voldemort, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:23:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24496417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelingofthesea/pseuds/feelingofthesea
Summary: Love isn't always easy, especially if there is a war, but fate always finds its way.
Relationships: Gabrielle Delacour/Ron Weasley
Comments: 12
Kudos: 11





	Eighty Three Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyKenz347](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKenz347/gifts).



> I love you, you beautiful soul! I hope you enjoy this!
> 
> A million hugs and kisses to [FirewhiskySoul](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirewhiskySoul/pseuds/FirewhiskySoul) for polishing my grammar, you are a gem!
> 
> Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this creation.

The first time she sees him she is 14 years and 347 days old. Her sister had told her a lot of things about him. He is supposed to be insensitive, a slow thinker, and without any manners. 

What Gabrielle sees is something entirely different. She sees a boy, not quite yet a man, that loves with his whole heart, who knows how to laugh, and is really,  _ really  _ funny. Fleur might prefer his brother for being empathetic and brave, but Gabrielle is charmed by how fiercely Ron cares about those he loves. 

It’s two days before her sister's wedding, the Burrow is packed with people, and the air is bustling with voices. Alcohol flows and nobody seems to remember that there is a war that could start any moment. Gabrielle likes it. She sits in an oversized armchair that is perched into a too - small corner, one foot tucked under her body, and sips ice cold lemonade. She had a glass of punch earlier but Charlie had taken it from her with a knowing smile and gave her the bottle of lemonade instead. 

Her family never holds gatherings like this, where everybody is happy and nobody cares if you laugh too loud or go for a third piece of cake. She almost isn’t upset anymore that it was either  _ stay with Fleur or pretend she isn’t your sister anymore _ for her parents.

It’s well past midnight and there are only a few people left awake when Gabrielle throws all caution to the wind and just goes for it, but Ron stops her before she has the chance to really kiss him. He cradles her cheek, a bit clumsy, slightly tipsy, and with so much more softness she could have ever imagined. He tells her she‘s a pretty girl and he likes her,  _ a lot _ , but she is also too young - she is almost fifteen, for Merlin‘s sake, or whatever they say here in England, he’s only a bit over two years older than her - and he… Ron stops himself, swipes a loose lock behind her ear, and kisses her forehead. Two days later Death Eaters attack the wedding party and he is gone, fighting in a war that has only just started. 

The next time she sees him she is 16 years and 24 days old. It’s at her sister's seaside cottage that now acts as a safe house. They are all marked by the war. Some days she wonders if she would have been happier if she had just stayed with her parents, followed their ridiculous rules and lived the life of the protected little girl she once was. She would have lost her sister, simply because the man Fleur loves happened to also be a werewolf. Gabrielle might have never met a man who is even more loving than Bill; she would have never met  _ Ron _ . 

The moment he enters the room and she really sees him, hunched over, hollowed cheeks, his hair a total mess, the things she worried about only minutes ago seem so trivial. His face speaks of sorrows that hold so much more importance. Gabrielle has seen a lot of people come and go. Mostly they arrive, injured in some way, their whole appearance attesting to the horrible things that are happening everywhere. Most of them stay a few days, heal, and are out there again in no time. She hasn’t seen the front line, the real horror. Ron  _ has  _ been out there. Day after day.

It’s late at night and Gabrielle sits alone in the dimly lit kitchen. Bill was so happy to see his brother, Harry, and Hermione again, he threw together a party out of scratch. They somehow ended up with enough alcohol for several of the current inhabitants of the safe house to end up drunk, and although this time Charlie wasn’t there to make sure she didn’t drink, Gabrielle stayed sober. She couldn’t just switch and act if they weren’t at war, even if it was just for a few hours. 

Her gaze snaps to the kitchen door as she hears a floorboard crack and her hand is immediately at her wand. For a few seconds, that stretch out to eternity, she holds her breath. A relieved sigh escapes her lungs as she realizes it’s just Ron. He looks only slightly better than earlier this afternoon. He had clearly taken a shower, and his cheeks have more colour now, though Gabrielle doesn’t know if it might be because of the alcohol. She hasn’t spoken to him alone yet and suddenly she has to think about that evening more than a year ago as she tried to kiss him. Heat creeps up her neck and she fidgets with the hem of her shirt, nervous.

Ron doesn’t speak, he only looks at her. Glassy eyes and so many emotions alternate at a rapid pace, making it impossible to grasp just one. Withslow measured steps, he approaches her. Gabrielle stands, stumbles backwards until the top of her thighs hit the low counter. Her eyes find Ron’s. He is only an inch away from touching her toes with his own, and as he closes the space left between them and they share the same air to breathe, she realizes he is more than just a bit drunk.

Gabrielle lets him kiss her anyways.  _ Gods _ . She has been waiting for this moment for 407 days. She doesn’t care if he is drunk out of his mind, if his breath smells, or if he could have been more gentle. She doesn’t care if he still thinks she is too young. The thought of surviving long enough to finally kiss him was the only thing that kept her standing some days. She will take this, everything he is willing to give.

Ron takes another step closer to her and there is absolutely no space between their bodies left. He slants his lips over hers, again and again and again. One of his hands grips the counter, his knuckles turning white, and the other one slides up her neck. Slow, terribly slow, he wraps his fingers around the hair at the base of her neck and tilts her head just so, to deepen the kiss. Gabrielle's eyelids had fluttered close a long time ago, and she returns his kiss full of passion, wraps her leg around his hip to get even closer to him even if it’s impossible, to make sure this is real, to feel how affected he is by their kiss.

She immediately wishes she hadn’t done it. Ron pushes back, mutters countless apologies, and before she has the chance to catch her breath and say something,  _ anything _ , he is gone and Gabrielle is once again left alone, panting. The memory of this moment will keep her standing, the desire to kiss him again.

She doesn’t see him for another 174 days. When she does, she is 16 years and 198 days old. They made it. The war is over. Countless lives have been lost, many places as badly destroyed as Hogwarts, but the war is over. Gabrielle watches as he hugs his friends and his family, relief and astonishment all over their faces. There were only a few that had believed until the end that they would prevail. He smiles in her direction, shy, but before she could decide to go over to him or not, Charlie scoops her up in his arms and swirls her around and Ron is lost somewhere in the crowd. 

Gabrielle doesn’t see him again after the dust settles and the Wizardingcommunity tries to gain some normalcy and starts to rebuild everything. She reads of him in the papers though. He is popular now, and there are countless pictures of him with different women on his arm. People celebrate him and he seems to enjoy being the center of it all. After a moment that she allows herself to cry over the love she thought would grow after the war, Gabrielle moves on.

She is 19 years and 364 days old when she finally sees him again. Or would unfortunately be more fitting? She had moved into her own flat in London shortly after the end of the war, when she couldn’t stand the happy family her sister and his brother had created together any longer. She works for a small boutique and every time she lets herself be convinced to join family dinner at the Burrow, she fears he will be there as well. But it isn’t the Weasley family home where they run into each other after all.

Gabrielle had stopped at the bar between her flat and her workplace to celebrate her birthday with friends, when she hears his voice. Chills erupt all over her body, because she’ll never not recognize that sound. She prays to God, to Merlin, to anyone that was listening, that her friends would arrive before he also recognizes her. Fate has other plans though. 

“Gabrielle?“ There is surprise in his voice and maybe it’s just her imagination, because she wants it so badly, but he sounds like he is happy to see her.

Fixing a smile on her lips, she turns. Her long silver curls bounce with the movement and her breath catches in her throat when she not only hears, but also  _ sees  _ him. Everything she has wanted to say to him is lost and she is fourteen again, lovestruck. The bright, honest smile that got to her from the very first moment lights up his face and he wraps her in a tight embrace. Gabrielle inhales deeply, lets her senses be flooded by his scent. He smells like he always has, but something about him is different. He looks like he is haunted and something is out of place. Her friends finally join them and he stays after he learns that it is her birthday. She drinks just enough to make bad decisions and when they call it a night, she takes him to her flat. She lets him love her, lost in his touch, and gives him everything. The next morning she wakes up alone.

Gabrielle doesn’t hear or see anything from him for two weeks. It’s a Friday evening and she had wanted to call it an early night, but he is standing in front of her door now. He is drunk, wearing formal dress robes. She knows he’s been to another gala. She also knows he had a beautiful date. She moves to let him in anyways.

Their affair, for lack of a better term, lasts four months. He appears out of the blue, sleeps with her, and is gone again come morning. Gabrielle can’t go on like this anymore. He is everything she has ever wanted, but he has demons he has to fight first. Her sister had told her before she even met Ron in person that he is insensitive, a slow thinker, and without any manners. He wasn’t all of this then and he still isn’t these things now, but  he isn't the same boy anymore she had first fallen for, and she is no longer the same girl that had fallen.

She does still love him though, that’s why she lets him go and waits at every Weasley family gathering for him to finally come home. She fell in love with him because of his loyalty, the fierce way he cares about his people, and she has faith that he’ll be at his family’s side again when he is ready. She will be there too, because faith in him was the reason she survived all of this.

She waits 83 days, but every single one of them is worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I value it! Comments and conkrit are always appreciated!


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